Cold Front Page 3

  “I’ll take her to the bed. We can sleep here tonight.”

  “Should we wake her? Ask her about what happened?”

  Regan chewed her lip in thought. “I guess we should. Ston will be here tomorrow, and he’ll want answers.”

  “You get her some clothes. I’ll wake her up.” I wanted to be alone for a moment with her. Maybe she would tell me about Ston.

  Regan walked off to find Cam some clothes, and I tentatively reached out and touched her shoulder.

  She jerked awake and looked at me with fearful eyes. She relaxed after a moment and started to sit up, but must have noticed that someone had ripped her shirt apart, because she lay back down. “I’m really back,” she whispered.

  “Yeah. What happened?”

  She furrowed her eyebrows, like she was trying to remember. “I tried to talk to you, tell you about Ston. Casey, I saw what he’ll do in the future. You can’t trust him. Don’t follow him. Please.”

  I shook my head. “I have to try, Cam. I’ll keep an eye on him, but I can’t just ignore what he said. People are going to try and take out the Temple. I won’t simply ignore that.”

  Cam looked away, but I think she understood what I meant. “I knew you would say something like that.”

  “Tell me what happened,” I tried again.

  “I tried to contact you, but the Old Ones found out. I was tampering with the future, and so they punished me for it. They went into another room and one of them later told me that they talked about all of the possible futures. They said the best option was to send me back to take care of you. They only see flashes of it, but they’re more in control of what they see and when they see it than I was. I would just get visions for no reason.” She looked back at me. “They sent me back here to protect you.”

  “Will they take you back in the end?”

  “They take us all in the end.”

  “Will you leave me if we stop the dark elves?”

  Cam didn’t say anything for a moment. And then she said, “I don’t know.”

  I nodded. “Are you still Cam? I mean… you didn’t change, did you?”

  She reached out and grabbed my hand, smiling sadly. “I’m still the same.” She was looking at me with those soft eyes, the ones that expressed every emotion she was feeling, the ones that made my heart jump.

  A wave of guilt came over me, and I pulled my hand away. I looked up at the ceiling. “She proposed.”

  “You said yes. I watched.” She sighed. “I saw that part of your life. I’ve seen a lot, not just of you, but of a bunch of people. I remember you the most, though.”

  Regan chose that moment to walk in. “Hey, Cam.”

  “Regan.” Cam smiled a little.

  “I got you some clothes.” She handed Cam the shirt and a pair of lounge pants that Regan wore sometimes.

  “Thanks. I guess I’ll go change real quick, and we can talk some more.” She stood up, clutching her shirt to keep herself covered, and walked over to the bathroom.

  “What did she say?” Regan asked once she closed the door.

  “The Old Ones sent her to protect us on our newest adventure.”

  Regan nodded. “It’s good to have her back.”

  “I remember you liking her a lot less.”

  “She died for me. And for you. I owe her everything.” Regan looked like she was somewhere else.

  I touched her hand and she looked back at me. “I owe her a lot too. She gave you back to me.”

  Regan smiled and touched her forehead to mine. “I love you, Casey Kelley.”

  “It’ll be Casey Cartmell soon enough.”

  “That doesn’t sound as nice as Kelley.”

  “You could do Regan Kelley.”

  She chuckled. “That doesn’t sound too great either.”

  I smiled. “I think I can put up with being a Cartmell for you.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’ve never been so sure in my life,” I whispered.

  “That’s so sweet,” Cam said, and I looked up to see that smirk on her lips.

  I laughed quietly and pulled away from Regan, but still held her hand. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

  Cam nodded and sat down across from us where Ston had sat earlier that day. “When do you leave?”

  “Tomorrow morning,” Regan answered.

  “Would you mind if I came?” Cam asked.

  “I thought that’s why you were here.”

  Cam smiled and nodded. “That’s true, but I try not to invite myself places. I want to make sure you guys actually want me around. I don’t want to force myself into your group.”

  “You’re still part of the group, Cam. You always have been,” I said and touched her shoulder lightly. It felt strange. She was alive. It felt like she had never left, that she was just gone to the store and came back to this. How could it be that she died a year ago when she was standing in front of me?

  “We should get you to bed. You must be tired,” Regan said, standing up.

  Cam started to stand up, and her back was to me when I stopped her. “You said you saw a lot of things while you were… gone.”

  She froze and stiffened up. I wondered if she knew what I was talking about. “Yes. A lot of things I wish I hadn’t seen.”

  “The underfae,” I said, not asking. I knew she had seen them, she must have.

  “You can call them that,” she said tentatively. “But there’s another name for them. A darker, more magical, name. Older. Older than the Old Ones even. They weren’t always the underfae. They used to just be fae. Magical creatures. They were around before the humans, even before the elves. But there is another name for them, one more powerful than the underfae. You can feel it, can’t you? Resonating in your bones more and more as I talk about it?”

  I could. My blood seemed to boil as she spoke about the underfae, like it needed to be said. It wanted to be said. I couldn’t think of the word, but I could feel it. The only way I would know it would be to say it. I opened my mouth to do just that when Cam clapped a hand over my mouth. We were dangerously close. Her minty breath washed over me as she breathed, and those ice blue eyes looked down at mine with a fierceness, and fear, that I had never seen before.

  She slowly shook her head. “Do not say it, Casey. It’s a dangerous word. Words and names have more power than you could imagine, and this particular word hasn’t been spoken by the living in thousands of years, and even the dead use it sparingly. You’re one of the few who can feel it so strongly. Most just get the inkling of it, but your blood is strong. It will make it easier for the underfae to find you. Every living creature is connected, and your presence is already calling to them. Saying this will only give them more of an advantage. You’ll never be able to hide from them.” She looked like she was terrified, but I think she was worried for me, not herself.

  I peeled her hand from my mouth and nodded. “Okay.” I could still feel that word inside, but I pushed away the thought and focused on Cam. “It’s okay.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered before she started to fully relax.

  “You should get some rest. We have to get up early tomorrow. Let’s get you some clothes for the trip.”

  She nodded and turned to Regan, who led her back to our room.

  When Regan returned, she pulled out the sleeper sofa, put sheets on it, and grabbed us a thick blanket. I collapsed onto the bed, utterly exhausted, and Regan crawled in after me and pulled the blanket up.

  “What was that?” Regan asked, wrapping an arm around my waist to pull me against her.

  “What?”

  “About the underfae and that word.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Did you really know the word?” she asked.

  I didn’t like talking about the underfae. I could feel that word start to race through me again. It wanted out. I hadn’t noticed when Ston was talking about the underfae, but now that I thought about it, I’d felt it slightly then. Not enough to really draw my
attention, like when Cam had talked about it, but it was as if the word was waking up inside. Now it was like a two-year-old who couldn’t sleep.

  “It’s hard to explain,” I said. “I knew it somewhere, but I can’t think of the word now. It’s on the tip of my tongue.” I fell silent for a moment. “It’s powerful. It wants to be said. I don’t know what would happen if I did say it, but I don’t think it would be good. Didn’t you feel it?”

  Regan shifted against me. “I just felt sick. Something wasn’t right about it, but I couldn’t place my finger on it. Don’t think about it too much,” she whispered. “Go to sleep, baby. We have a lot to do in the morning.”

  “Right,” I whispered, but I didn’t even try to close my eyes. I didn’t know if I wanted this to be a dream or not. I didn’t want to have the dark elves try to destroy my home, but I wanted Cam to be back. I wanted her to be alive, here with the rest of us.

  I couldn’t bring myself to sleep at all that night, but Regan’s arms did comfort me slightly. She was warm, solid but soft, and familiar. Loving. Even if I couldn’t fall asleep, she was enough to help me relax a little.

  I MUST have dozed off at some point, because I was jerked awake when Regan started shifting around behind me and getting out of bed.

  “Is it time to go?” I asked, mumbling into my pillow.

  “Not yet. Sleep for a minute. I’m just going to pack some clothes for Cam is all. Go back to sleep, love.” She touched my shoulder, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from drifting closed.

  I was asleep before she even got out of bed.

  I FELT a hand on my shoulder, waking me up. Regan smiled down at me. “Time to get up. We have a long day ahead of us.”

  Cinder licked my hand, and I jerked it away and frowned. It was coated in dog slobber, which now dripped onto my lap. “Thanks, Cinder,” I mumbled darkly.

  He barked in response and jumped around excitedly.

  Cam was leaning against the wall and looking at me with a small smile. She had gone back to herself after that serious talk last night. Even though she looked the same, I felt that something had changed in her. Something in the Veil. She was Cam, but she was also more than the girl I knew.

  I went back to my room and changed there in peace. I was walking out when I saw my leather gloves on the desk where I had left them last night. I tucked them in my back pocket and opened the drawer where my silver ring with the ruby stone lay.

  I slipped it on my finger absently and grabbed a silver chain from a drawer to slide my engagement ring on. I didn’t want anything to happen to it, but I wanted to keep it with me. I was trying to close the clasp when the door opened. I looked over my shoulder and saw Regan. “Want some help?”

  “Yeah. I just… I wanted to keep it with me, but I was afraid something would happen,” I mumbled.

  “Of course, I understand.” I think she was smiling. She finished closing the necklace and brushed her lips along my neck.

  I shivered, and she chuckled quietly, bringing me back to the real world instead of our own little world. “We should get ready to go,” I said.

  “We should.” She held the door open for me, but I hesitated for a moment before digging my hand back into the drawer and wrapping my fingers around the thing I had originally meant to grab from it.

  “What is that?” Regan asked.

  “Just something I made after Cam died. To remember her. It just… seems like she should have it.”

  Regan nodded stiffly, and I went back out to the living room where Cam still leaned against the wall, waiting for us.

  I thought Regan would have followed, but she didn’t. Maybe she thought this should be a private thing, and perhaps she was right about that.

  I didn’t know what to say, so I simply stood there awkwardly.

  “I’m sorry,” Cam said after a moment.

  “For what?”

  “I saw you cry. I’m sorry I left you, but… I had to. I knew Regan was good for you. I knew that you needed her more than me.”

  “I still needed you,” I whispered.

  Cam looked away from me. “I’m sorry.”

  “You’re not sorry you died; you’re sorry you hurt me. You’re sweet, Cam. I just don’t think you want people to know.”

  She shrugged but didn’t say anything.

  I stepped closer and took her hand in mine. I uncurled her fingers and slid a ring on her right hand. It was bright silver with a dark green emerald.

  “Green is for earth. In the Temple, when you found your natural element, they gave you a silver ring with the stone of your element. You weren’t a Temple kid, I know, and you probably hate it because I know how much you hated the idea of the Temple, but… you learned so much, and you did so much for us. For me. I put on the enchantment to help direct your energy and help you with your control and all that. I just couldn’t let you go without doing this. Every mage gets one of these. They’re a sign of growth and success and strength in the mage world. We wear them with pride back at the Temple. I know, you probably don’t care—”

  “I love it,” she whispered as she spun it around on her finger.

  “Really?”

  She smiled up at me. “Makes me feel like I really am a mage.”

  “You’re a great one, just unpracticed.”

  “I’ve been practicing a little bit. When I can.”

  “That’s good.” I smiled and stepped away from her. “Ston will be here soon.”

  I had barely finished saying that when there was a knock on the door.

  Regan came into the living room as I opened the door. Ston had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. “Ready to head out?”

  “Ston, one thing before we leave.” I stepped back so he could see Cam.

  He didn’t seem like he could move, and I noticed Cam didn’t look too happy to see him but was at least trying to hide it. “She’s alive,” he whispered.

  “Yeah. The Old Ones sent her back to help us. She’s coming with us to see the”—I felt the word in my gut—“underfae.”

  He stepped forward and hugged her tightly. “Dammit girl, don’t do that again.”

  I could see the shock on her face, but after a minute she smiled and hugged him back. “Missed you too,” she said.

  When he finally let go, he looked back toward the door. “We need to leave soon.”

  Regan also had a duffel bag with some food, but mostly just clothes for us. She handed Cam a backpack, probably with her things. “We’re ready.”

  “I have some food in my bag,” Ston said, shifting it slightly.

  “We have some, but not a lot,” Regan said.

  He nodded. “We can go for a little while at least, and then I know what we can eat down there. It’s not as good as the food you’re used to, but it’s still food.”

  Cinder paced back and forth. I think he was ready to get going. He must have missed being out there the way we used to be. I didn’t want to admit it, but I missed it too. Not the fear of getting killed, of course, but I would have been lying if I didn’t say something had been missing for the last year.

  “Let’s get out of here. We can talk more on the way,” Ston said before walking out of the apartment.

  We followed behind him, and I waited for Regan to finish locking the door. I taped the key to the top of the doorframe, and we followed Ston and Cam outside.

  Cinder was relieving himself on a nearby tree, and Cam was standing there, looking at the sky with this strange expression on her face.

  “I didn’t think I’d see it again.” She smiled. “It’s beautiful.” There were still stars out in the sky. It was early morning, and winter was starting, so it was still quite dark.

  “How far away is an entrance to one of the underground paths?” I asked, walking up to Ston.

  He thought about it. “An hour. We’ll have to be careful once we arrive. The dark elves may not watch it closely, but that doesn’t mean others don’t. “How well do you know this place?”

  He smiled a l
ittle. “Better than I know my own hand.” The bright blue lines on his hands seemed to flare when he said that. “I technically grew up in the city, but I didn’t spend much time there. From birth we are built into soldiers. Learning magic is painful, terrible, but you can’t focus all your time on learning magic, you also have your job. Recon was mine. I went deep into the darkest places I could find and brought back information on other cities, resources around us, and after a long time of searching and not realizing how far I’d gone, the underfae. I spent more time alone in dark, empty caverns than I did in the cities. I memorized a lot of maps just in case I lost them, and because I explored some places so thoroughly, I created a lot of maps for others to use.”

  “I sometimes forget how long you’ve been alive.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not much younger than Liam.” I could see the pained expression at the elf’s name. How long ago did Liam leave to take care of his family? I wondered why Ston didn’t go with him. But it wasn’t my place to ask.

  “You’re much older than me.”

  “That’s true,” he admitted.

  “You’re right, we should get going,” I said after a minute.

  Ston started to lead us down the street, and Cam followed directly behind him. Regan, Cinder, and I followed Cam. I think she wanted to keep Ston and me separated.

  We didn’t talk much. I think everyone was too tired and on edge. Even Cinder seemed to be a little anxious.

  It was about an hour and a half before we were standing in front of a dark cave.

  “In here?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Not even many dark elves know about it. It’s really far out of the way, but luckily it’s only a day’s walk from the last time I saw the pixies.”

  “The last time? What, did they move?”

  He looked over at me with a serious look. “They’re nomads. They always move.”

  I furrowed my eyebrows. “How do we find them?”

  He sighed. “They may actually still be there. I’m hoping they are, at least. They usually wait to have children. They find a place they can settle down until the women can give birth. When I saw them last, they said that that they were getting ready for that. We’ll be cutting it close, but I think that we’ll make it in time.”